Just The Girl
by WeBuiltThePyramids
Summary: A Collection of Leonard/Penny oneshots, varying in length, inspired by a post on Tumblr. Chapters will all stand as a separate story.
1. Chapter 1

**So I saw a post on Tumblr titled "How To Make My Girl Happy" with just over a dozen bullet points on it. I decide to turn each one into a Leonard/Penny prompt. **

**For those of you waiting on an update for The Good Old College Try; I'm waiting on the episode to air tomorrow. Then you'll get an update. In the meantime, enjoy prompt one!**

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#1 Make her breakfast in bed.

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"Wake up, sleepy head!" Leonard said, walking into the room with a tray that held waffles, eggs, and orange juice – low pulp.

Penny opened one eye. "What time is it?"

"Nine. A full hour later than last time."

"Last time you made me food so I wouldn't get mad at you," Penny said. She sat bolt upright. "What did you do this time?"

Leonard smiled. "Nothing. Not trying to make up for anything, just wanted to make my girl breakfast."

"Aw," Penny said, reaching out and taking the tray. "This is so sweet." She looked up at Leonard, standing next to the bed and grinning, and she tipped her head and gave him a flirtatious smile. "I love you."

Leonard responded by leaning over and kissing her briefly on the lips. "Is there anything else you want right now?"

"I have breakfast and a servant?" she said playfully. "Hmmm, let me think."

Leonard held his arms at his sides and tried to look perfectly obedient, like he saw soldiers and guards do on television.

His stance made Penny giggle. "Come here, you," she said, pulling the covers from his side over to reveal the space next to her.

Leonard smiled and slid in next to her, laying back and putting his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling.

"No no," Penny said, giving him a playful slap on the chest. "You're either going to help me eat this or I'm going to keep noticing how cute you are lying there and abandon the meal in favor of showing you my appreciation for this meal from on top of you."

Leonard raised his eyebrows. "Well, I always appreciate knowing how you feel about me…but I'd hate for all my cooking to go to waste, so…" he sat up. "How about I help you eat it and _then_ you can show me?"

"Sounds like a plan," Penny said, chewing another bite and nodding. She gave Leonard the fork, and he took a bite, and then handed it back to her. "Or…" she said, trailing off before looking at him and grinning.

Leonard cocked his head. "Or what?"

Penny stabbed a piece of waffle with a fork, swirled it through the syrup, and handed it to him. He tapped the waffle against the tip of nose, leaving some syrup behind. Her tongue exited her mouth, and her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to make it reach her nose. Upon failing, she leaned over to him, rubbed her nose against his cheek, and then kissed it, making sure to get all of the syrup off.

When she pulled back from him, Leonard was looking at her with raised eyebrows. Penny grinned, took the fork from him, and cut another piece of waffle to dip in syrup. This time, she pushed it against _his _nose.

"I see what you're doing here," Leonard said, leaning over to transfer the syrup to her neck. "Multi-tasking."

When Penny felt his nose leave her neck and his lips replace, she closed her eyes and twisted sideways to wrap her arms around his own neck as best as she could. The motion sent the breakfast tray sliding off the bed, hitting the floor with a clatter.

Neither Leonard nor Penny noticed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Because these are short, unrelated stories, I can update more frequently than multi – chapter fics. Plus I thought I'd give another update now since I'm feeling a bit guilty that I'm making my College Try readers wait. But anyway, here is prompt two! This one's a little shorter, but still over the 'drabble' length of 100-ish words.**

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#2. Always tell her I love her.

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Leonard was taking a bottle of water out of the fridge when the apartment door opened. He looked over his shoulder, saw that it was Penny, and took out a second water bottle. "Hey."

"Hey," she said. She was still in her Cheesecake Factory uniform, and as she walked closer to him, Leonard could see that she was stressed.

"What's wrong?" he asked her, holding out the water bottle. She took it from him and put it to her forehead.

"Just…just work," she said, closing her eyes. Leonard reached over and put a hand on top of the one of hers that was on the countertop, and rubbed his thumb against her skin.

She opened her eyes and looked down at their hands. "The punch clock wasn't working right and by the time I managed to punch in I was fifteen minutes late and the manager yelled at me for not remembering to just call him whenever the time cards aren't working, and then I was just rattled and brought some food to the wrong table and I tried being all fake cheerful 'I'm sorry about that!' but this big guy in a suit started yelling at me and what is a guy in an expensive suit even doing at The Cheesecake Factory like it's not that fancy of a place and I almost started crying right in the middle of the restaurant and Bernadette isn't working there anymore so I couldn't even vent to her on my break and…" She turned the water bottle over in her hands. "I don't know. It was just a bad day. Nothing goes right anymore."

"Hey," Leonard said, squeezing her hand. "Hey."

She looked up. "What?" she said dejectedly.

He gave her a small smile. "I love you."

She looked as if she was about to roll her eyes, as if to say _Leonard that doesn't help me here_, but then her expression softened, she gave him a small smile of her own, and then she put her other hand over his. "Thanks." Her eyes briefly looked down at their hands before returning to her boyfriend's face. "I needed that. I mean...it's not like I don't know, but..." she nodded. "I needed that."

"Anytime," Leonard said, squeezing the hand that was below his. "I mean it."


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's your next oneshot, lovely readers, and I must say, it's fun to write for other fandoms, and I do get reviewership for every story, but whenever I write for this show I'm always flooded with the loveliest reviews and PMs, it's sometimes near overwhelming (in a good way, of course!) and all encourages me to write more. You are such a fantastic group of readers, and you have no idea how much it means to me that you like what I write. Hugs all around! Unless you're not a hugger. In that case, I'll provide you with my best attempt at a nice smile.**

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_#3. Cuddle her randomly from behind._

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Sometimes when he cuddled her, he had a reason.

Like when they'd celebrated their first anniversary as a couple, gone out to dinner and spent more time smiling at each other across the table than actually eating – if he remembered right, they'd both brought more than half of their meal home. When they got home, they'd kissed on the couch for what seemed like hours before going into her room and he taught her all about Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion. Twice. Then, she proved to him that she'd learned it, and he could testify that when she wanted to be, Penny was a _very_ good learner. The following morning, still completely in Afterglow Mode, she'd been at the fridge getting a bottle of water and he came up behind her, slid his arms around her waist, and pulled her close, putting his chin on her shoulder and smiling when he felt her hands rest on his and her head tilt his way.

Or the night after she, looking terrified and to Leonard's complete surprise, had asked him to marry her with a Green Lantern ring; the smile that had overcome her face at his joyous reaction to the lengths she had gone to to give him that nerdy moment was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. His response was to drop down onto his knees in front of her, take her face in her hands, and kiss her until they both needed air. Later that night, when he wiggled out of their embrace to use the bathroom and came back to her sleeping on her side, he crawled in behind her, slid his arms around her, and tugged until she was against him, this time pushing his nose into the back of her neck. She sleepily cuddled closer, craning her neck around to push her own nose into his cheek.

Or when he sat behind her on the hospital bed, both of them awaiting the arrival of their daughter into the world, his arms up higher this time, running around just above her belly to where their four hands joined in a mess of fingers just below her breasts, and he lowered his head to kiss her on the top of hers, turning his face so he could rest his cheek against her hair, and rocked side to side slightly. "This feel good?" he asked, still feeling partially responsible for her spending the past week tossing and turning, unable to sleep, after a mild illness he'd brought home from work had prevented her from doing stairs in an effort to get the baby out on time. Now she was nine days overdue, in the heat of summer, and it had taken a toll on her sleep. He looked down at her as she lifted her face to look at him. "Much better," she said, detangling a hand and reaching up to touch the side of his face. "You know how much I like your cuddles."

But sometimes, sometimes when he gave her this favorite kind of affection, there was no particular reason. No milestone, no occasion. Sometimes, they hadn't had sex in days, they were nowhere near their anniversary, she wasn't sick, and she wasn't giving birth. Sometimes, it was just a normal day, a Wednesday, perhaps, and upon coming into a room and seeing her in it, be it the first time of the day or the hundredth, he discovered a need to make contact, to show affection, to display love. And so he would walk up to her, curl his arms around her, and take advantage of how his head fit in the crook of her neck.

"Hello, beautiful," he said in a whisper, smiling.

And she turned her head enough for him to see her smile, too. "Hey," she said softly, meeting and holding his gaze.

Leonard moved his head slightly so he could plant a kiss on her neck, and then looked at her again. She was still smiling. "Can I tell you something?" she asked him.

"Anything," he replied.

"One of my favorite things you do," she said, "is this. Cuddles for no reason at all."

**This one was a bit longer, though some of that was my A/N. :) Next update, hopefully tomorrow!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Here's the next update! Sorry for the wait – how about everyone just expects me to update Thursday-Sunday and if I get you anything Monday-Wednesday, it's just a bonus? Sound good?**

**Anyway…**

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#4 Give her flowers.

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Penny had been fully expecting to spend the night at Leonard's apartment, but what she had forgotten was that all the clothes that she kept over on that side of the hallway had been worn and were now in the pile of laundry. She woke up the next morning and frowned, not wanting to put yesterday's clothes back on. Even a twenty foot walk of shame looked like a walk of shame, and no one who had been in a relationship for almost a year – had it really been a year already? – shouldn't ever be doing anything that resembled a walk of shame.

Penny went through Leonard's closet, looking for something that she could throw on, the sheet wrapped around her in case Sheldon was to enter the room without warning again. _Get over yourself,_ Penny thought. _Everyone that has the slightest chance of seeing you walk across the hallway knows you're Leonard's girlfriend._

"Hey," Leonard said, entering the room. "I got something for you."

Penny turned and almost dropped the sheet. "Flowers!" Her mouth fell open slightly as she stepped toward him, reaching out and taking the blossoms from him. She drew them up to her nose before realizing how odd this was. "What's this about?"

Leonard shrugged. "What do you mean?"

"I mean is this like when you used to send me cards after we had sex?" Penny asked, only half joking.

Leonard gave her his best 'not amused' face. "No. It's just…you know, it's just me trying to show that _you _are my special girl. I got him early this morning to get them."

Penny put a hand on his arm. "Aw, you are just the sweetest." She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "Hey," she said, squeezing his arm gently. "Can you do something for me? You know, since I'm your special girl, and since you've already been out today?"

"Of course," Leonard said.

"Great," Penny said. "Go across the hall and get me clean clothes."

Leonard folded his arms. "You didn't say please."

"Pleeeeeease," she said, bringing the flowers to her nose again and peering at him over them, trying her best to look adorable.

Leonard kept his unimpressed expression for a few moments longer, and then cracked, grinning and giving a little chuckle. "Sure," he said, drawing a flower out of the bunch and tucking it behind her ear.

When he left, Penny looked in the mirror and studied her appearance. Her hair was pretty messy, but the color of the flower provided the perfect contrast to both her hair and the sheet. She raised her eyebrows and nodded to herself. "Actually, this could work..."


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, sorry it's been a while! And no, this isn't a usual update day, but I've been talking a lot of TBBT recently with people and I was feeling guilty.**

**Really quick, before my reviews get flooded with the question instead of an actual review on the story, yes, if you have a question that begins with "did you hear about" on anything TBBT related, the answer is yes. So you don't need to use your review to ask. ;)**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own anything. Balls.**

#5 Be Romantic

"Leonard," Penny said, bumping her shoulder against his as they walked down the sidewalk. "That was the sweetest anniversary dinner I've ever had."

"Hmmm, well," Leonard said, "I'm glad you liked it."

"And you got them to put us in a quiet area!" She said. "That never happens at that place!"

"I called well in advance," Leonard said. "And paid him extra. The amount isn't important. But I gave the guy a good look at the President who served in the Civil War."

"Well you're lucky that guy was a history nerd, then," Penny said, her laugh trailing off when Leonard gave her a confused look. "What? What did I say?"

Leonard smiled. "Nothing."

"Gosh," she said. "I can't believe it's been a year." She turned her head to smile at him. "A year since you saw me standing in my apartment and just decided to go for it. I still don't know what made you do it."

Leonard chucked. "I had some odd sense of déjà vu. Like it sort of hit me again that that was _you_ standing there and it was _you_ that I wanted to be with. I'm sure that sounds stupid."

"No," Penny said. "It sounds sweet. And it's not like I didn't have a feeling like that when you sounded so sure. It was this odd…" she stopped. "I don't know how to explain it." She looked back at him. But I'm glad it happened."

Leonard stopped and turned to her. "I know I told you this over dinner," he said, "but…" he shook his head. "God, this past year has been so, so great."

She smiled back at him, putting her hands on his neck. "Me too," she said, tipping her head slightly. Leonard took the cue and kissed her, sliding his hands around to her back. Penny smiled when their lips separated. "I love you."

Leonard tried and failed to hide his smile. "You said that in the restaurant."

"Is there a limit?"

"No," Leonard said. "Just an observation. I love hearing you say it."

"Hmmm," Penny said. "Well, depending on this hotel room you've been talking up, you might hear it again."

* * *

"Okay, you're going to hear it again," Penny said, walking around the room like she'd just found Narnia. "Leonard, these flowers and…oh my gosh!" She turned to look at him. "How did you think of all this stuff?"

Leonard shrugged. "It's an almost exact replica of what the room in Switzerland looked like."

Penny's smiling face turned into a jaw drop, and her shoulders sagged slightly. "Oh…Leonard…" He shrugged, and she came over and took both his hands. "Well, this works out better."

"Oh yeah?" Leonard asked. "How?"

"Well, for one thing, I'm going to tell you that I love you in this room. And for the second thing, I read a blog post on neat stuff to do in bed today and the article wasn't published three years ago so all this stuff I have in my brain wouldn't have happened in Switzerland."

"Oh really?" Leonard said. He smiled. "Well, I'm really glad you like it."

"How can I not?" Penny asked. "I'm spending my anniversary to a guy who's given me a snowflake from the top of the globe, who wanted to take me to Switzerland for our first Valentine's Day, when we hadn't even had an anniversary yet, and now, on our first anniversary, surprised me with…" she turned around. "This. Of course I like it. No, I _love_ it."

Leonard came up next to her and slid an arm around her face. "And _I _love _you._ And I especially love when you get like this."

She tilted her head to rest it on his shoulder. "I can't help it," she said. "This is easily the most romantic thing I've ever been a part of."

"Same here," Leonard said. "And I don't just mean tonight. I mean you. Us."

Penny lifted her head. "I really like us."

He smiled back at her. "I really like us, too."

**I wanted to write an anniversary fic on their ACTUAL anniversary, but I can't guarantee I'll be online that day. Plus the prompt was so generic: "be romantic."**


	6. Chapter 6

**Again, sorry for the wait! This one is a little short, but that's why I'm calling it a drabble.**

#6: Tell her she's beautiful.

"Leonard, make me feel better."

"Why? What's wrong?" he asked, turning his head to look at her.

"Ugh, this show," she said, putting her head on his shoulder.

"I thought you liked it," Leonard said.

"It's Friends. Everybody likes it," Penny said.

"Penny, what's bothering you?"

She sighed. "Fine." Pausing the DVD, she sat up and looked at him. "Rachel Green was a spoiled daddy's girl who threw herself into the world, did what she had to to get by, had failure after failure, and ended up this well rounded, sought after woman with a career that she built from the ground and just everything that she wanted. She persevered and she made it, and…" Penny shrugged. "I've been here seven years and have a brief, completely unrewarding acting career and probably a tenth of a college career."

"And a year ago you didn't have any tenths," Leonard said. "Which is progress, right?"

She shrugged. "I guess." She looked back at the screen. "Plus Jennifer Aniston's just super pretty."

"You know who else is super pretty?" Leonard asked, sliding his arm around her shoulders.

Penny turned slightly pink. "Stop it."

"What?" Leonard said. "Like you don't know that you're super pretty."

"No, I know," Penny said, smiling. "Or at least that's what I'm told. But you know what?" she said, tapping his nose. "It sounds so much more special coming from you."

"Well," Leonard said, "good. That's what I was going for."

Penny cuddled back closer to him. "Plus I'm luckier than Rachel anyway. Holograms are much cooler than dinosaurs."

Leonard laughed. "I guess I picked the right line of work, Pretty Girl."

Penny slapped him lightly on the chest. "Stop it."


	7. Chapter 7

**I promised I'd have a new oneshot up before the episode aired tonight, and as I have a class and time at the barn between now and then, I punched this out between classes. I actually had three drafts of this last night that all got scrapped because I finished and decided I hated them. This is what I finally deemed acceptable.**

**#7: Take her on dates.**

There were some definite perks to dating someone who lived across the hall from you. If you were busy, it took five minutes to stop by and let your significant other know you were thinking about them before rushing off to work or to do errands or whatever else needed to get done right then. If you were too lazy to go out, you could hang out at one of the apartments instead.

However, this convenience could also make you lazy, knowing you could see each other right at home allowed you and your significant other to fall into a habit of never going anywhere, trying new food, walking around new places, or doing anything different.

Leonard Hofstadter was well aware of this, and despite how nice it was to stay at home with Penny, watching television, making love, or even doing each other's nails, he knew that she enjoyed going out on her days off, and unless she'd told him about making plans with Amy and Bernadette, Leonard always had plans ready for her and him.

Sometimes they went to a familiar place, like the restaurant they ended up in on their first date, or the movie theater they had gone to many times as a couple and once as friends, or the shooting range – he hadn't shot anything but the target in months and the managers finally let them shoot without extra supervision – and sometimes she surprised him at Caltech to heat up the lab, which he always tried to have something scientific to show her so it would _seem_ like they were going somewhere, another world, another time.

And then sometimes he took her somewhere new, a new restaurant, a new bar, a place decorated for the season. Her eyes lit up when they arrived, taking in everything, never letting go of his hand unless there was a gong in the corner that she ran over and hit only to be chided by the manager that it was for show _only._

She never got the cheapest food, or the cheapest drink, or the cheapest desert, and if her feet hurt after a long night out _he_ carried her shoes home, all the while wondering why one would wear shoes like that if they knew they were going to be hobbling home barefoot.

And the effort that was made to actually go out, or to find a new place, and the money that was spent, and the looks he got from carrying high heels down the street, they were all worth it just so he could get that look, that affectionate smile, the loving eyes, and the words "I had a really nice time tonight."


	8. Chapter 8

**New chapter time! This is currently my only TBBT work in progress, so I'll have to get on publishing a bit more regularly!**

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#8: Snuggle with her at night.

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Leonard wasn't a 'wham bam, thank you ma'am' kind of guy.

Sure, he'd had casual sex. He'd absolutely had casual sex. But if he and this one time girl were in his bed, he didn't ask her to leave. If he was in her bed, he didn't scamper out of there as soon as it was over. He was polite, and they always parted ways the following morning. But the night they spent together – the sleeping part of it – was always like a married couple on an old fashioned, conservative sitcom would be – on their backs, or on their sides away from each other, certainly not touching, certainly not entwining hands and feet, and _certainly_ not one on top of the other, even partly, even in the most nonsexual way.

That, Leonard knew, was because he was never in love with those women. Leslie, Stephanie, Elizabeth, Joy, Mrs. Latham, and then Priya, he might have wanted a relationship with Leslie or Elizabeth out of desperation, but the closest he'd ever come to full out snuggling, apart from with Penny, was Priya, and that was just an arm across the other one, an affectionate kind of embrace. Not a passionate one, not one that radiated the connection between the two people.

When Leonard cuddled Penny, be it after sex, before sex, or on a night with no sex at all, she pushed herself as close to him as possible, and he curled his arms around her, either completely around her back if she was on her side, or around her shoulders if she was facing the ceiling. If their hands weren't otherwise occupied, fingers were laced with fingers, and, whether they were facing toward or away from each other, so were their feet. Sometimes their faces would be close together, so the hot air from their breathing would touch the other's face, or the other's neck or chest. Sometimes a leg would cross over another leg to get them closer together. Sometimes, "I love you" would float to his ears, those wonderful, perfect words that he never got tired of hearing.

But _always_ did Penny fall asleep with contentment on her face. She could be stressed, or feeling sick, or exhausted, or nervous, but when Leonard cuddled her, she slept peacefully.

And if that was all that it took to relax her, Leonard would snuggle with her every second of every day. It was such an easy thing to do, and such an easy thing to want to do.


	9. Chapter 9

**New chapter time! This one actually took me **_**forever **_**and I don't know why.**

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_Remember small details about her._

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"Hey Leonard," Penny said, smiling over her shoulder at him as he entered her apartment.

"Hey," he said, coming into the kitchen area and peering over her shoulder. "You're cooking?"

"Yeah," she said. "I just paid my rent and cable bill and figured out I don't have enough money to order food in. So we're having spaghetti."

"Sounds delicious," Leonard said, kissing her briefly on the cheek. "So," he said, "I was talking to one of the guys in the chemistry department, and I might have a job for you."

"At the university?" Penny said, turning around in confusion.

"No, no," Leonard said. "This guy's brother lives out in the country, a little less than ninety minutes away, and he's hurt his back and can't do technical work on his equipment. I mentioned that you know your way around tractors and he's offering you eight hundred dollars to fix his tractor engine. He's estimated it'll take him about a thousand to replace the parts, so if you're willing to make the drive and put in the time, he'll give you the eight hundred."

Penny raised her eyebrows. "How would you know that I would be able to do that? I never told you that I can rebuild tractor engines."

"Yeah, you did," he said. "Back when we first met and the guys and I were building your furniture."

Penny frowned. "I did?"

He nodded. "Yep. You said you did it when you were 'like twelve'."

She cocked her head and smiled. "You remembered something I told you off handedly from six years ago?"

He slid his arms around her waist. "I listen when you talk."

"Sounds like it," she said, putting her hands on his arms. "What other little things you know about me?"

"Well," Leonard said, "You can hog tie and castrate an animal in a minute. You used to use Green Apple shampoo but changed to coconut when I mentioned that I liked the coconut smell of that one lotion place we went to. And…" he smiled. "You really like it when I kiss you riiiiiight…" he leaned down and spoke with his lips near the right side of her neck, right above the collarbone. "Here." He planted his lips on the spot in question, and Penny closed her eyes and slid her arms around his neck.

He lifted his head and smiled at her. "Did I do good?"

"Impressive," she said, smiling back at him. "Now you want some spaghetti?"

"I don't know…" he said, teasingly. "If it's not as crunchy as last time, it's just going to be a letdown."

She gave him a mock glare. "Shut up."


	10. Chapter 10

**Just a quick drabble for you guys before the episode tomorrow! This one's a little shorter but hey, that's what a drabble is! Or maybe this is a ficlet. I don't know the technical difference. IT IS FANFIC.  
**

**Oh yeah, disclaimer, don't own anything, you all know the drill by now.**

Leonard knew the instant that Penny came in the door that something was wrong. For one thing, when he kissed her in greeting, she only brought one hand up to touch his arm. For another, she kept looking off to the side and putting her hair behind her hear. "You okay?" He asked, and she nodded with a chipper "yep!"

He leaned on the countertop and raised an eyebrow. "Talk to me."

She looked at him, sighed, and then spoke. "I broke two plates at work today trying to keep moving and not have a back up."

"Okay," Leonard said.

"There was full uneaten meals on them when they fell."

"Ouch."

"The people were some kind of high maintenance, what – the – hell – you – doing – in – a – Cheesecake – Factory jerks, and they pretty much demanded that I get yelled at by my manager _in front of them _while they kept their arms folded and nodded along with what he was saying and people were looking at me and it was so humiliating, and then the guy made some comment that implied that if a woman can't even serve food, then what's the point, and…" Leonard already knew that his girlfriend was going to cry, but when she started shaking her hands, it became all the more obvious. He stepped around the table and wrapped her in his arms.

"Thanks," Penny said shifting her position so she could push her head underneath his chin despite the height difference. "For listening."

"No problem," Leonard said, rubbing her back. Then he stopped. "You aren't going to thank me for the hug?"

He smiled when he felt her hand slap his chest. "I like your hugs. But people hug me all the time. You listen. And sometimes that's better."

"I'll listen whenever you need me to," he said. "You know that."

"Yeah," she said, lifting her head to smile at him. "I know."

"That why you love me?" he teased.

She kept smiling a moment before answering. "It's a part of it."


	11. Chapter 11

**I actually have stuff from a recent episode to do the next prompt about! Yays!**

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_Always stand up for and support her._

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When Leonard found out that Sheldon and Amy were coming to see Penny in A Streetcar Named Desire, he was glad that some of their friends would be there for her as well as her boyfriend. He knew that she'd been hoping the opportunity would arise to invite some of their friends, since other people in the acting class would have a half dozen people there.

"Of course I'm glad you're there," she had told him when he asked her, teasingly, if she wanted Shamy to come because he wasn't enough. "I wouldn't be able to get through it if you weren't."

"You'd be fine," he reassured her. "You've done acting jobs without me before."

"I know," she said, "but this is me among people I work with. That's so much more pressure than standing in a room with people you don't really know. Knowing you're there, it'll calm me down. But it will be nice to have more than one person, you know, because most of the other people will."

"They'll be there. And I'll make sure Sheldon's paying attention," Leonard said, smiling.

"That'll be tricky," Penny said. "You know he hides his toys as well as I hide from the landlord."

"If Sheldon's going to your play, I'm going to make sure that he is watching you and your peers every second," Leonard said. "It will be seen to personally. Doesn't matter how many items he shoves in his pants, he will not be leaving the apartment with them. Not when you need us."

Penny wrinkled her nose. "He hides things in his_ pants_? How in the world do you know that?"

Leonard put an arm around her and kissed her cheek. "You don't want to look under that rock."


	12. Chapter 12

**New update time! Want to get these drabbles done so I can focus more on my WIPs, both the ones that are published in part and the ones that aren't.**

**In other news, Roxanne (ennaxor) and I have started recording a podcast for fun; if you want to listen to us discuss recent Leonard/Penny and Shamy news, Raj/Lucy, and the last new episode in general, go to The Big Bang Buzz dot com, and you'll find the podcast recording. : )**

**Oh yeah, and this fic, I don't own it. Or anything in it. You know the drill. It's carved in stone. With Leonard's chisel.**

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_Be kind and sweet while she's on her period._

* * *

The first time Leonard threw her a mini party, Penny thought it was really sweet, especially since the day had also involved getting _no_ tip from two of her tables despite them both making a mess of their immediate vicinity. Coming home to a bowl of trail mix, a movie, and Leonard including a whispered _I have dark chocolate in the fridge, too,_ during their hug just made Penny want to hang on to him for the rest of the night. And she did, cuddling close and missing parts of the movie because she was focused on the faint sound of his heart that she could hear with her head on his chest. Forget the rest of the night; what he'd done, and feeling him holding her now, made her not want to let him go _ever._

Or maybe it was just the hormones.

No, she was certain that it was that it was Leonard.

When his little routine turned out to be a monthly thing, Penny wondered if it was weird. None of her previous boyfriends ever did that. None of her previous boyfriends ever did anything _like_ that. Mike hadn't even been sure of when her cycle was.

Of course, Leonard was nothing like her previous boyfriends, certainly not anything like Kurt or Mike. And overall that was a really, really good thing. Penny figured that her initial reaction to what he'd done for her was probably the correct one. It was really nice to know that he would go out of his way to make her feel better, and if the day of Leonard's Penny Period Party – which he preferred to call P3 – came on a day she worked, she could get through the under tipping and the aching feet and the messy customers knowing that she'd come home to hugs, promises of chocolate, and cuddling while watching a movie that he would never have picked out for himself.


	13. Chapter 13

**I apologize greatly for not having update any of my three fics recently. Epic fail on my part. Well, on two of my parts. I was waiting for last night's Mentalist to guide my one fic and so that was deliberately on the backburner, but you're my TBBT audience so that really doesn't matter to you. ;) Except the crossover people who read both.**

**ANYwhoo, if you want to check out the next two episodes of Roxanne (ennaxor) and my podcast, go to the big bang and you'll find it! I know some of you have listened and commented already, so thank you! And we always love more listeners, of course!**

**And now on to the next prompt – I believe only two more after this one!**

* * *

_Never let her down._

* * *

Leonard had missed his flight.

It hadn't been his fault, unless someone wanted to criticize his character for not driving off after he swerved to miss a child running across the road and rear ended an elderly woman. By the time he got to the airport, the jet had taken off and he was resorted to catching a red eye – it always seemed to be a red eye when it came to going to her side – to New York; a good five hour flight in the middle of the night pressed between an old man who talked about someone named Gertie in his sleep and a young woman who would not stop clicking her nails and snapping her gum.

Upon landing, baggage claim couldn't find his suitcase and it was raining so no taxis were available and Leonard ended up wandering for an hour before pulling his jacket over his head and running four blocks before collapsing; his inhaler had been in his luggage. The others on the street, mostly running to get out of the weather, ducked around him. He was pretty sure one or two people hurdled him.

When he heard Penny's voice, he thought he was dying. Then she was on her knees in front of him, feeling his pockets for the inhaler that he thought he hadn't had, pressing it into his hands and telling him to take the medication "before I kill you myself."

He put the inhaler to his mouth. "What are you doing here?" he asked her after.

"What am I doing here?" she said. "What are you doing here? You have that experiment!"

"Finished early," Leonard said. "Wanted to…see your play." He felt her hands curl around his. "Wanted…to surprise you. You," he repeated after a deep breath, as if he hadn't felt like he'd enunciated it properly the first time. "Car accident…late flight…they lost my bags…rain."

"Thank God you collapsed less than a block from where the show is," Penny said. "That's a million to one, huh? God, Leonard," she said, pulling him against her and cradling his head to her chest. "I know I wished you could have come, but I didn't want you to die for it."

"I didn't die," Leonard said. He fumbled in his pockets and pulled out a soggy piece of paper. "I…well, I had a ticket." He sighed and sat up. "I'm sorry."

She cocked her head. "For what?" A smile came over her face. "You're going to see my play."

"You're not…mad? You sounded mad."

"I had no idea you were coming, and I see you crumpled on the street in the rain gasping for breath!" She said. "Leonard, honey…" she leaned over and kissed him. "I can't believe you came all the way out here to surprise me."

"I'm your boyfriend," he said. "You wished I could be here. I'm not supposed to let you down."

She smiled, rain dripping off her nose. "You could never let me down." Standing up, she held out her hand and helped him to his feet. "Now we have to get you into some dry clothes. I have to report in an hour." She took his soggy ticket. "I'll make sure you're in a place where you can see me. I won't be able to see you, but…" she smiled. "I'm so glad you're here."


	14. Chapter 14

**Update time! The Sulfur Juxtaposition will be updated by the end of the weekend. As for this fic, there is one chapter left, so it should be wrapped up by the end of the weekend too, and then I have another collection fic like this one in the works!**

**In other news, Roxanne and I are filming the fourth episode of our podcast tonight. Expect it up by Saturday morning! We'll discuss Paley Fest and the most recent episode.**

* * *

**#14: Spend more time with her than her friends.**

* * *

"Leonard," Sheldon said, holding out a document. "I know you know what this is."

Leonard wasn't facing Sheldon, but he did indeed. "The roommate agreement?"

"Yes. Do you know why I need to talk to you about this?"

Leonard turned around. "I assume I am in violation of one of your crazy subsections?"

"Crazy subsections that you initialed," Sheldon reminded him. "Do you remember when you were dating Dr. Stephanie and she spent enough nights here to become, according to the agreement, a resident of this apartment?

Leonard sighed. "Yes."

"Well it has come to my attention, Leonard, that you are spending that kind of time _away_ from here. This isn't in the agreement, but don't you agree that that means you are _not _in fact living here anymore?"

"I'm just with Penny," Leonard said.

"Penny's apartment is still not our apartment," Sheldon pointed out.

"Okay," Leonard said, "yes, I spend most of the time with Penny now. But is that really something that you need to be concerned about? I'm still paying rent, and I'm close enough to drive you to places. We still spend some nights here anyway. You don't have to find and break in a new roommate, Sheldon. I'm not going anywhere. I'm just spending lots of time with her. You spend almost all day with Amy if you count texting and Skype."

Sheldon searched for a comeback. "What's your point?"

"My point is," Leonard said pushing the roommate agreement toward Sheldon. "I'm not even in violation of the roommate agreement, so why does it matter?"

Sheldon stopped, and then shrugged. "I just thought I'd point it out. You're spending more time with her than with us, now."

Leonard nodded. "Yeah. I am. It makes her happy."


	15. Chapter 15

**And here it is, the final chapter of Just The Girl. Prompt fifteen. I hope you have all enjoyed reading these, and I'll have another collection in this style started within the week, so you can look forward to that! For now, enjoy the last chapter.**

_**Never break her heart.**_

When Alex flirted, and Leonard liked it and then didn't tell her it happened, Penny got scared. She knew he wouldn't do anything about Alex's attentions while dating Penny, but there wasn't a rule that said he had to _keep _dating Penny. She'd been wary of Alex since early fall, but now, several months and an "I love you" later, it hit Penny just how insecure she was, especially now that Leonard had full possession of her heart. He could do with it what he pleased, and if it pleased him to rip it to shreds, she could do nothing about it.

But he didn't. Instead, he showed up at her door, playing his cello and singing a silly little apology song, then promising her that she had nothing to worry about, nothing would happen with him and Alex – _ever_.

When she turned their Valentine's Day into something more worth of Saint Valentine's a_ctual end_ than anything related to the holiday, he promised her that he would never propose to her again, and Penny got scared. She wasn't ready to get married now, no matter how bitter she was over her old boyfriend becoming engaged to the girl he slept with while dating Penny, but she didn't want to know that she and Leonard would _never_ get married. And why would one be in a loving relationship if marriage was no longer a possibility? "Are you breaking up with me?" she asked, ready to apologize up the wall, ready to beg him to stay, ready to remind him that she loved him and _not now_ didn't have to mean _not ever_, ready to pour out her heart in a last ditch effort to prevent it from shattering, and then there he was again, reassuring her that he wasn't breaking up with her, not at all. He was just putting the ball in her court, letting _her _tell him when she was ready to get married by being the one to propose. It wasn't the answer she was expecting, but she was more than ready to agree to his suggestion.

Proposing was something she knew that somewhere down the road she'd _want_ to do, and when she did, they'd be taking one more step toward being together forever, something that was still scary, but was looking like a better idea every day.

And that day, Valentine's Day, Penny took another step closer to being ready. Because on that day she realized, finally understood, that she shouldn't be insecure now that she openly loved him, because Leonard Hofstadter would never, ever break her heart.


End file.
